President John Dramani Mahama has charged the new Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Johnson Pandit Kwesi Asiama, to take a cue from the financial sector cleanup as he takes over the new role at the central bank.
The President has advised him not to take decisions that would only enforce banking and monetary regulations without recourse to the human consequences involved.
According to him, although the previous administration had the opportunity to safeguard the financial institutions that were collapsed to avert the massive unemployment that came with it, the government’s adamance brought the hardship on the people, making him advise the incoming team to put the interest of the masses first.
During the swearing-in ceremony of the two governors at the Jubilee House Tuesday, February 25, 2025, President Mahama said the test of the solemn duty of the new leadership is to learn from the errors of the banking sector cleanup.
“During the supposed banking sector cleanup exercise, thousands of jobs were lost and lives disrupted because decisions were made with a narrow focus rather than considerations of the human impact.
“The Bank of Ghana had the opportunity to salvage some institutions, to protect livelihoods while ensuring stability, but instead, an approach that ignored human consequences prevailed.
“The test of your patriotism in this solemn duty of economic governance lies in learning from these missteps—recognizing that policies must not only enforce regulations but also safeguard the futures that depend on them,” he admonished.
The financial sector cleanup announced by the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government in 2017 heralded the revocation of licences of nine banks and more than 370 financial institutions including 15 savings and loans and eight (8) finance houses.
The exercise cost the state in excess of GH¢21 billion and threw thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of their dependents into disarray.
It is, however, factual, that GH¢9 billion could have saved the banks and other financial institutions according to financial experts.
